SWAC Secretariat Director Laurent Bossard participated in the weekly radio podcast “Affaires étrangères” (Foreign Affairs) presented by Christine Ockrent on France Culture. In his contribution, Laurent Bossard recalled that Africa is a continent in progress, notably in the field of food security. Indeed, during the past three decades, the West African population has doubled and the percentage of people suffering from chronic food insecurity has been reduced by 60%. Africa is the last continent that hosts a large number of “isolated populations” that are highly dependent on subsistence crop or livestock farming. Since they are not or only partially connected to the market, and live in areas with very weak government presence, they are naturally fragile and less resilient to both climate hazards and terrorist attacks from Islamist groups like Boko Haram. The risk of famine in north-eastern Nigeria is real. A comparison between the map of food insecurity and the map of Boko Haram-related violence illustrates just how closely civil insecurity and food insecurity are intertwined. Today, even more than funding, protection and access to Boko Haram-controlled territories are key challenges. Authorities have a window of one month or two to avert a famine in areas that are hard to reach. 

Listen to the podcast (French)